Carrying Our Friends to the Lord
Feb. 21/22, 2009
Mark 2:1-12
Fr. George Smiga
What a vivid and rich healing story we have in today’s gospel. It comes from the gospel of Mark. Mark is famous for his vivid detail and story telling. He sets before us quite a scene. Jesus, after a journey of healing and teaching, returns to Capernaum, and the whole town turns out. They surround the house where he is staying. You cannot even get in or out through the door. In the midst of all this crowd and confusion, four people come forward carrying their paralyzed friend. They intend to have Jesus heal him but they cannot do so because of the crowd. So they climb up on the roof (and drag their friend up with them) and dig a hole through the roof. The buildings in that part of the world are much like the adobe huts of the Southwest United States. They are made out of clay and soil. So you can dig through the roof. They lowered down their friend on the mat in front of Jesus.
You can imagine the shock of the people in the house as Jesus is teaching. Suddenly the roof opens and down comes this paralyzed man. But Jesus sees their faith and heals the man. He takes up his mat and walks out.
In such a rich narrative there are many things upon which we could concentrate. But I want to focus on the friends of the paralyzed man. In many ways this story is their story. It is because of them that the healing takes place. The paralyzed man is dependent on them to come to Jesus and it is only because of their persistence and creativity that they are able to lower their friend down into Jesus’ presence. Moreover, it is their faith that makes the miracle possible. In most of the healing stories of the gospels, the sick person is required to have faith. But here in this story, the miracle happens because of the faith of the sick person’s friends. The text is very clear. It says that Jesus seeing their faith, said to the man, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”
The friends of the paralyzed man are an example to us. We are invited, just like the friends in the gospel, to bring people that we love to Jesus. Who are the people in our lives who we want to bring to Jesus? Maybe there is a member of our family, a son or daughter, a sister or a brother, who has no religious faith. We want to take them to the Lord because we know that if they come to believe in Jesus they will experience his presence and his love. Perhaps there is someone we know who is sick, mentally, emotionally, or physically. We want to carry that person before the Lord because we believe that Christ can offer them healing. Maybe there is somebody that we know who is struggling with doubt or failure or guilt or unworthiness. We want to be able to take that person to the Lord so that they might have Christ’s peace. Whenever there is someone we love and that person is in need, we as people of faith want to bring them to the Lord so that they can experience Christ’s love, healing, and peace.
So how do we do that today? Jesus is no longer teaching down the street. What does it mean to bring someone we love to the Lord? There are a variety of ways. We can do it by the love and care we show the person. We can do it through our prayers. We can do it through suggestions we make. We are always making suggestions: read this book, talk to this person, see this doctor. All of us try to reach out to the people we love and try to bring them towards the healing, the loving presence of Christ. As we bring those we love to Jesus, there are two more details in the gospel that are important to keep in mind: faith and numbers.
The friends in the gospel are motivated by faith. They do plenty of actions: carrying, digging, lowering. Yet for all those things that they do, the thing that sets the friends apart is their faith. They believe that Jesus cares for their friend and that Jesus will help him. It is their faith that motivates them and causes them to keep moving forward. We, as we try to bring people to the Lord must have a similar kind of faith. We must believe that the efforts we make are not wasted. We need to believe that Christ sees in our efforts, our love, and our desire to help. So even when it seems that our actions are not having any effect, when the people we are trying to bring to the Lord are not believing, are not being healed, are not finding peace. Even then we continue on with the faith that our attempts are recognized by Christ. We believe that Christ will use whatever efforts we offer to care for the person we love. Faith moves forward even when it’s difficult, even when it seems like no progress is being made.
So faith is primary. But numbers are also important. It was not one friend who brought the paralyzed man to Jesus, but four of them. There is strength in numbers. As we try to bring the people we love to Christ, we should ask for help. We should turn to other people who care about us and share our concerns, ask for their prayers, ask for their advice. We are stronger when we are a community. We are stronger when we depend upon one another. As we try to bring the people we love to the Lord, having others to help us is important. As we carry the people we love before the Lord it is important not to be carrying them alone.
All of us have in our life, people we want to bring before the Lord. We want the people that we care about to experience Christ’s love, Christ’s healing, Christ’s peace. Today’s gospel encourages us to do just that. It calls us to ask other people to help us, and it tells us that we should move always forward in faith. We must believe that our efforts to help others are not wasted. We must believe that as much as we love the person we are carrying to the Lord, Christ loves that person even more.
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